ABSTRACT
This article identifies ways in which stakeholders – governments, the international community, including the UN development system, foreign investors, and local communities – could work together in a ‘win-win’ situation. Many war-torn countries have great potential for the exploitation of natural resources that could help them come out of their aid dependency and set the basis for independence. In most of them, however, FDI in natural resources – both in minerals and agricultural plantations – and government policies to support them have been the source of new conflicts with the displaced communities whose lives and livelihoods are affected. War-torn countries rich in untapped natural resources face a number of challenges in exploiting them. Perhaps one of the greatest challenges for war-torn countries is establishing the appropriate legal and regulatory framework, often from scratch, to allow them to attract foreign investment for natural resources, including hydrocarbons, mining, and agricultural sectors.
